Eels Blogs

Gutho: Was great tonight, except for one momentum where he threw the pass forward to Carty. His try saver on Kikau was outrageous. He cops a lot of hate for no reason. 

Sivo: Was caught coming in field a couple of times. Did well for his try and nearly scored a second. Needed to get more involved coming from our own end since Dunster doesn’t provide the meters Fergo did.

Blake: Had a good game. Nearly scored at the start of the game. He needs to communicate with Sivo more in defense because Sivo is clueless without advice. Disappointed that he wasn’t given more aerial contests for the ball. 

Opacic: Was defensively great tonight, especially on Kikau. Gave away a stupid penalty near the end of the game and threw a ball into touch. However, all is forgiven considering the death of his brother. My condolences to him.

Dunster: Never put a foot wrong but must argue whether it is good enough? With Gutho not the strongest player (not much PCM) and Sivo not having a high work rate, Dunster has a lot of hit ups from the back end. He gets dragged back regularly, especially against a top team that has great line speed. Defensively he was great, but I think W Blake needs to be moved to the wing. We need strong carries. Dunster will be a good back up winger. I don’t want Fergo back. Gives me anxiety.

D Brown: I have noticed, recently, he has started the game strongly with his short kicking game, however, he gets quieter as the game goes on. I was disappointed with his running game today as he did not look very dangerous. Never cut back in to test any tired Panthers forward. The conditions should have suited his role in the team. 

Moses: Please give Moses a break. I was angry as everyone in the moment for him taking the long-range field goal shot and then missing the penalty goal at the end. However, his infield kicking game was tremendous tonight. His long-range bombs helped for field position and kicking game led to 2 tries. Could of maybe took on the line more, but people who complained about his attack tonight are being outrageous. Look at Luai, who has been one of the most dangerous players in the game. He was quiet all games except for 2 forced dropouts. This is because the condition and quality of opposition meant that kicks and lapses in defense would win the game rather than silky attacking skills. I back him for origin.

RCG: Really showed some aggression and was great tonight.

Lussick: He nearly broke through the line a couple of times. Mahoney somehow manages to do it with his small body. He is not an 80-minute hooker especially for a high intensity game. W Smith should have been on the bench. Very poor 1 on 1 effort that allowed Korissa to run at him the next play for not being square. As a result, May scored the next play.

Niukore: Was not a fan of the move for him to be a starting prop. Runs with plenty of aggression, but personally not big enough to start. Prefer him in the backrow. 

Papali’i: Was great tonight in attack. He has been breaking so many tackles. He is a clear plan of BA’s power game as they to make him run an at isolated defender. Very poor miss for dog shit May to score. He does have some poor efforts in defense. Whether it being miss tackles or 6 agains. 

Matterson: I thought he had some great runs tonight and a couple weak runs. Had a solid game IMO. Surprising he was not used for aerial kicks.

N Brown: Had some great leg drive in his runs. Some stupid tackles to give away 6 agains. Could maybe learn to break tackles.

Paulo: I understand the move to the bench, but Kaufusi should have got the start. I really want to see him run hard and break a few tackles. At least his offload game was back tonight 

Kaufusi: Did his job I guess

Carty: Limited minutes. Completely overran Gutho for the forward pass. Probably the right choice by BA not to play him big minutes. Wasn’t the condition and type of game for Carty. Although with the effort Lane was dishing up, Carty should have been used.

Lane: Ohh the Giraffe. WTF. Very lazy defender. Has some good carries in attack but always has a drop ball in him every game. Needs to fix this up. I think BA should continue playing Lane but in shorter stints. He gets to fatigued to defend continuously. Two 15 min bursts should do the job. This will allow Carty to get more game time.

BA: This one out shit is really pissing me off. If BA wants to keep Dunster on the wing, he needs to remove this one out shit. We will gain barely any meters. Sivo is not a workhorse. Unfortunately, Gutho is not a power and strong athlete like a Tedesco to gain meters. So, we need to create little plays to help us gain meters. Fergo is not the solution to his scenario. He gives everyone anxiety under the high ball and when attack is thrown his way. Either find a way to gain meters with Dunster in the side or put W Blake to the wing and blood Penisini.

The one out thing is tiring our forwards out so if they need to defend repeat sets, they have no energy and then miss tackles. Come on BA. Do something. We should glimpse on how to do it.

 Did we deserve to win?

I personally believe that we were the better team. If Blake got a little more of his hand on the ball in the start when grounding the grubber and Sivo grounded the ball we could of been 2 tries ahead. We lost 2 tries by a matter of an inch or two. We defended astutely other than 2 small brain fades by Lane and Papali’i. People who expected more from Moses and others in attack clearly don’t understand the game. This was a defense game, in wet conditions against the best defensive side in the competition. Were you expecting eels to put on 30 just because Cleary was missing? Look at Panthers. They we not very threatening. Just some lazy defense gave them 2 tries. Panthers had some questionable 6 again calls go their way, but I will say Korisau tore us to shreds. He played our markers like fools. We did give away a couple of dum penalties, but the ref gave some dogy penalties away against us.

What does this loss mean?

I personally, hope Moses still earns the blues jumper. His kicking game was great, and he will be needed in the future if Cleary is injured. I am still furious with the loss. Both our games against the top teams (Panthers and Storm) have been in wet condition. So have we even got the full test yet on how our defense is? There were some positives from the win. Mahoney is a big blow. I think BA needs to consider his bench rotation to give Lane shorter spells, Carty more minutes and Lussick a rest. I would still love to see D Brown take more control as his involvement rate in game starts high in the first half and slowly decline. In second half’s, he has moments of good stuff, but not regularly. Not saying he should be setting up tries left, right and center, but just be more involved at least.

What do we need?

I think we could use a strike center. I think many people here know that I want Penisini in. I would love to see him debut next game. Perhaps give Opacic a break to spend some time with his family. Preferably, W Blake to the wing and Penisini to the centre with Dunster dropping out of the side.

Secondly, if you look at Storm and Panthers they have fowards who don't provide much go foward but our great defenders. I think we need a "Finucance / Chris Lewis / J Trobjevic" type of player that just clean up tackles and can with stand repeated sets. Looking at the NSW Cup stats, Makotoa looks like a great defender and provides plenty of meter  (big motor as well). Perhaps put him over Lane or Carty (since BA doesn't give him big minutes against top teams). Even Stone could be the option. Defend like B Smith.  Can cover hooker as well.